Ross Wilson – Concert Review

Ross Wilson is one of the most respected and storied artists in Australian pop and roll and thus it made perfect sense to find him announcing that he would follow his long time compatriot Joe Camilleri into the  (relatively) vast surrounds of the Palais Theatre for a concert celebrating has 45 years in music.

 

Actually the “45 year” occasion is probably a little rubbery so the sub-title of Wilson’s concert “5 Decades of Cool” was probably more apt given that it must be really hard to pick a date and say “it started then”.

 

I’ll wander through the concert in a minute however it’s probably fitting to the most meaningful moment in the whole show came at its conclusion. The final song Loves Journey was drawn from Wilson’s next album, rather than from his back catalogue and the final image on the backdrop actually announced Wilson’s forthcoming national tour that will run from September through December. We may have been there to celebrate Wilson’s past but he has his sights firmly fixed on the future.

 

But there’s nothing wrong with a brief stroll down memory lane is there?

 

Wilson chose to do things largely chronologically, with a couple of exceptions. He actually opened with one of my favorite Wilson songs Bed Of Nails, re-invented in the style of a jazz combo. The lyrical relevance of this was interesting although it may have been lost on some of the crowd. I heard a few murmurings of concern when Eagle Rock made an early appearance, re-jigged as a jug band ditty. Surely the classic song wasn’t going to be dismissed in such a strange way? Of course not.

 

Early guests appropriately were Ross Hannaford and Mike Rudd. They accompanied Wilson through some Pink Finks and Party Machine songs including the rarely heard I Don’t Believe All Your Kids Should Be Virgins. This song, used to illustrate how subversive they were at the time, did its job well, but it also should be left where he found it for future performances!

 

Another obscurity though – which I think went by the name of Woman of The World – should immediately be sent to every pop singer looking for a hit. It was a cracking little song that wouldn’t sound out of place in the Top 40 today. (Um, do they still have a Top 40?)

 

Wilson generously handed the lead singing over to Rudd for a rendition of the Spectrum hit I’ll Be Gone and his strident vocal and wailing harp made this an early highlight.

 

Other great moments in the first set included Come Back Again (such a great song built around such a simple idea), the eternally silly Baby Let Me Bang Your Box and the superb Hi Honey Ho which reminded us what a huge groove Daddy Cool created for a bunch of Australian white boys in the 70’s.

 

Stu Fraser joined the band for a couple of more rockin’ songs and his presence emphasised how important a good guitar player has been to Wilson’s music. He’s had the incomparable Ross Hannaford who showed at this concert that he has lost none of the tasteful dexterity and brilliant touch that he has used to grace so many importany Australian recordings. Later in the night Eric McCusker showed that his more focussed contributions to Mondo Rock songs were equally essential to their success.

 

The set finished with the very significant Living In The Land of Oz (which in retrospect is as much an alternative national anthem as Down Under or Beds Are Burning) and the slinky The Fugitive Kind and Primal Park from the later album, which served to give us a taste of the second half.

 

Part Two commenced, well, badly. While Wilson’s production of the Skyhooks albums Living In The Seventies and Ego Is Not A Dirty Word was an important landmark in Australian contemporary rock music and his part in their success was essential the performances of Horror Movie and Ego were simply lame. The band managed to purge any life out of those subversive, brash songs and Greg Macainsh made the right call by sitting in the audience rather than participating in that part of the show.

 

Fortunately things came good from there. Jimmy Barnes came, saw, bellowed and generally spread the love on a couple of songs showing himself to be a generous performer and likeable house guest before Wilson played a great song called Slave To My Emotions which highlighted what a good harp player he is.

 

After an impressive re-invention of A Touch Of Paradise (and a funny story about the power of Na Na Na’s) we were ready to hit the home straight.

 

A series of Mondo Rock hits followed and they only served to make you wonder why that band didn’t become a huge American pop success. Hearing those songs now you can only be amazed how perfectly they would have fitted American radio formats of the time.

 

Chemistry, Summer of 81, Primitive Love Rites, State Of The Heart, Cool World and Come Said The Boy are all great commercial songs and they drew the concert to a very “smiles on faces” conclusion.

 

Of course the encore included a gang bang on Eagle Rock (in the style to which the audience had become accustomed over the last 40 or so years) and a happy Daddy Who?, Daddy Cool! finale, before the aforementioned Loves Journey pointed us into the future.

 

Did we get everything we paid for? Absolutely. Was there any surprises? Actually there was and you have to commend Wilson for his openness to re-inventing some of his songs and to genre-hop so willingly.

 

While the concert rather randomly marked a point of celebration for Wilson you do get the sense that the audience got more from the exercise than Wilson himself did. I suspect he’s already thinking about the next album, the next show, the next song. And that’s probably why he is who he is.

Ross Wilson’s Turn To Celebrate

There must be something about 45th Anniversaries. Just a few weeks afer Joe Camilleri celebrated his 45 years in music with a great concert at the Palais Theatre another of Melbourne and Australia’s musical treasures Ross Wilson is doing the same thing.

Like Camilleri’s show this concert will feature a huge array of guests from “every facet of his career”. In Wilson’s case this may include his production career – he added this string to his bow in the 70’s with the production of the legendary Skyhooks album Living In The Seventies.

Wilson began his career in 1964 with the band The Pink Finks and in the late 60s he found fame as front man for Daddy Cool where he created such iconic songs such as Eagle Rock and Come Back Again.

Wilson later fronted Mondo Rock, perhaps an under-rated band who had hits including Come Said The Boy, Chemistry, State of The Heart, Summer of ‘81 and Cool World amongst others.

His song Touch Of Paradise was hit for John Farnham so that presents another possible facet of his career to be celebrated.

Tickets are on sale at 9am, July 6th through Ticketmaster.

Friday August 15 – Palais Theatre